THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART

Men—not the woman who murders them—are the objects of horror in this debut novel.

The story opens with a vivid description of the protagonist’s mother tearing apart a fish she has just cooked and horrifying both her daughters by pulling out an eye, holding it aloft, and eating it with exaggerated relish. It’s an arresting tableau and one that will—as you might guess from the title—take on greater significance as the narrative progresses. This is also a rare moment of pleasure for a woman whose world is falling apart after her husband abruptly left her, and this betrayal by a man will also echo throughout the book. Ji-won, the narrator, is in her first year of college. She’s struggling academically and socially. When a white guy named Geoffrey seems eager to get to know her, she neither discourages him nor encourages him. Her reaction to her mother’s new boyfriend, George—another white guy—is entirely straightforward: She loathes him, and his arrival is something of a psychic turning point. Her loathing turns into nightmares about blue eyes, and Ji-won turns into a murderer with a desperate need to devour human eyeballs. There will no doubt be readers who get a kick out of this book simply because it’s a feminist revenge fantasy. But if the concept alone isn’t enough to hold your attention, there’s not much else on offer here. The pace is leaden—until the final act, which feels rushed and truncated. Geoffrey is straight caricature; a dude who is this emphatic about his feminism has to be a creep. George is also rather broadly depicted. It’s only fair to say that his ignorance, bigotry, and general terribleness are believable but, as a villain, he doesn’t have enough depth to make him interesting. Neither does Ji-won, and that’s probably this book’s greatest weakness. Kim does very little to help us understand why, exactly, this young woman turns murderous. Young women all over the world deal with terrible men every day without going on a cannibalistic killing spree. Her transition from aimless and unhappy college student to devious criminal mastermind is equally perplexing.

Tantalizingly sensationalistic premise, disappointing execution.